The 3-4A wraps up a wild and unpredictable season Thursday night.
While stranger things have happened, unless Highland gets tripped up at struggling Trumann and Pocahontas loses to one-win Westside, the playoff seeding, from one through three, are set with Highland on top followed by Pocahontas and idle Osceola in third.
Gosnell and Valley View are playing for a share of a tie for second and the fourth seed out of the 3-4A.
Osceola has the week off to prepare for its playoff run. Here's a look at the action.
Valley View (5-2-1, 3-2) at Gosnell (6-3, 3-2)
The last time these two teams met was for a share of the 3-4A title and the one seed last year at Valley View.
This year, it's for a share of second place and the fourth seed.
Gosnell is coming off a 35-13 win over Westside but is struggling to regain the roll they had before their loss to Pocahontas two weeks ago. They'll need a better effort than the one they put forth against the Warriors if they want to win their fourth in a row over the Blazers.
Valley View had a bye last week but that didn't help them a year ago when the Pirates beat them by a point in their own back yard. The Blazers have been hard to figure out. Their only significant win was an early season victory over Pocahontas.
Expect a high scoring affair as these two teams lead the league in scoring with Gosnell at 40.1 per game and the Blazers at 37.6 per contest.
Highland (7-1, 4-1) at Trumann (2-6, 1-4)
Highland is riding high after an emotional 34-25 win over rival Pocahontas. A win over the Wildcats will give the Rebels the one seed out of the 3-4A and their first conference title since 2007.
The 2011 season comes to a merciful end for the Wildcats who have been bitten by the injury bug as bad as any team in the league. Wins over Paragould and Westside aren't nearly enough to get this team, which won a playoff game just a year ago, back to the post season for the fourth straight year.
Highland leads the league in defense yielding just over 19 points a game. Gosnell has been the only team to score over 30 points against the Rebels.
Westside (1-7, 0-5) at Pocahontas (6-2, 4-2)
Without a win against a strong Pocahontas team on Friday, Westside will have the dubious distinction of completing their second straight winless conference season. Ironically, the last 3-4A team to fall to the Warriors was Pocahontas back in 2009. Since then, Westside has lost 19 in a row to league opponents.
Pocahontas can wrap up the second seed out of the 3-4A with a win Friday night. The Redskins have proven most of the "experts" wrong this year with wins over Osceola and preseason league favorite, Gosnell, in consecutive weeks. Three tough games in a row over league contenders, the Redskins deserve a week like this before they make a playoff run.
afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com